Posted on 07/13/2004 7:19:59 AM PDT by Gothmog
Group defends investigation; veterans say comments distorted
AUSTIN – Opponents of John Kerry have hired a Dallas-area private investigator to gather information aimed at discrediting his military service, say several veterans who served with the Massachusetts Democrat in Vietnam.
Several veterans who have been contacted in recent days accused the private investigator, Tom Rupprath of Rockwall, of twisting their words to produce misleading and inaccurate accounts that call into doubt the medals Mr. Kerry received for his service.
"They're just distorting things," said Jim Wasser, who served with Mr. Kerry. "They have nothing to go after John Kerry for, so now they're trying to discredit him."
Mr. Rupprath was hired by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth on the recommendation of Merrie Spaeth, a Dallas public relations executive assisting the anti-Kerry group.
The investigator declined to discuss his work, but Ms. Spaeth said he is a former FBI agent assigned to produce an accurate and objective account of how the Democratic presidential candidate earned his combat medals.
"You need to have a third eye that looks at this, somebody who even though you hired him, people know that his integrity is unquestioned and who puts this together the way an investigator would look at it," said Ms. Spaeth, who was a communications adviser in the Reagan White House.
The Kerry campaign accused Swift Boat Veterans of being a politically motivated group with ties to the Republican Party and the Bush administration. The Bush campaign says it is not associated with the group.
Political campaigns routinely gather information on opponents but typically use consultants or campaign aides rather than private investigators, according to political experts.
The hiring of a licensed private investigator to make calls in recent days appeared to suggest that the Kerry foes are preparing a stepped-up assault on his military record as the election approaches.
"This is unusual in that it appears to be push research and not real research," said Glenn Smith, a Democratic consultant and author of the book The Politics of Deceit. "Push research means you have a conclusion, and you're going to talk to people and push their words to reach your conclusion."
Challenging record
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth held a news conference in May in Washington to level a sharp critique at the senator. Members of the group, including veterans who had served with Mr. Kerry, have criticized his anti-war testimony before Congress in 1971 and questioned the circumstances under which he earned three Purple Hearts.
The organization is known as a "527" for the tax code provision under which it is organized. It can raise money for voter drives and issue advertising so long as it does not coordinate with the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign.
A spokesman for the organization, John O'Neill, is a lawyer in Houston. He succeeded Mr. Kerry as commander of his swift boat in Vietnam and was recruited by the Nixon administration in the 1970s to counter Mr. Kerry's anti-war comments.
Mr. O'Neill and other members of the Swift Boat Veterans group have challenged whether Mr. Kerry deserved his combat medals and contend he is unfit to serve as commander in chief.
Grant Hibbard, a commander when Mr. Kerry reported his first injury in Vietnam, said the wound was most likely self-inflicted and the report at the time indicated there was no enemy fire.
Veterans who were on the boat with Mr. Kerry give a different version. Pat Runyon said the crew was patrolling north of Cam Ranh Bay the night of Dec. 2, 1968, when Mr. Kerry and fellow crewman Bill Zaledonis spotted Viet Cong guerrillas massed on a beach and began firing.
He said Mr. Kerry was subsequently treated for a wound to the arm, which led to his first Purple Heart.
Mr. Runyon said he recounted the episode for the private investigator because he gave the impression he was working for an independent or pro-Kerry veterans group. But Mr. Ruynon said he was distressed when the investigator sent him an inaccurate synopsis of their conversation suggesting that the wound was probably caused by a flare.
"I have no problems with the truth as long as they put it out the way it happened," he said. "But I told him I didn't want him to use it, didn't like it and felt he'd missed the whole feeling of the mission."
Mr. Rupprath would say only that his investigation is continuing.
"We have not talked about this publicly because I don't think we have a full understanding," he said. "We're not making any accusations until I think we have them truly buttoned up and can be presented in as authentic and credible a manner as possible."
Maybe it will be found out how he spent only 4 months on a 12 month tour.
This sort of coverage is a defensive move. Bad things will come out from this investigation. Things that hurt Kerry. And so, the first news reports will be focused on Kerry defenders saying, "The Bush people are hatching a plot. They're going to start telling all sort of lies about Kerry's service ..."
Amazing, no mention of the one time a Presidential candidate actually hired a PI.
"Political campaigns routinely gather information on opponents but typically use consultants or campaign aides rather than private investigators, according to political experts."
Yeah, right, I wonder what 'experts' these are. The consultants hire the PI's, not the campaign.
The Kerry campaign accused Swift Boat Veterans of being a politically motivated group with ties to the Republican Party and the Bush administration.
Well, if that's the case, it should be easy enough to prove. Just show everybody the basis of the accusation. I'm sure all the networks will be more than happy to carry it.
</sarcasm>
If kerry has anything hidden they will find it.
Very interesting. I like it when Kerry's guys sweat. "Push research" indeed. The Dims INVENTED it!
thank you for not excerpting.
I love how the media and Kerry people attempting to push this as a Bush campaign plot, but the reality remains Kerry's only been presented as this all-American war hero that he continues to make into why he should be president, but here are most of the people who served alongside him and an amazing 4 month service by Kerry in Vietnam and getting out due to an astounding 3 Purple Hearts and coming home after those few months to say how attrocities were committed by all the soldiers and an agenda. These men have all the credentials to challenge Kerry on this and the media knows this and will attempt to keep their identity unknown. These men are true heroes and the fact remains the issues are real in why so many Vietnam and other veterans are against Kerry and the media attempts to hide Kerry's full record. If he's going to push "I am a Vietnam war hero"-the true heroes have the right to reveal his real contribution.
As far as I am concerned, shining light on Kerry's anti-war testimony before Congress in 1971 is all that is necessary. There is no need to question his service and it mainly provides an opening to pro-Kerry posturing and Bush service bashing. There has been far too little of his Senate testimony released (or at least reported on). However, the true disgrase of his "service" is found in the garbage he spouted after his return.
Clinton himself hired a PI back in '92 to hunt down people who could expose his "bimbo eruptions".
OK?
John O'Neill was on local radio this morning. He said that JFnK's 3rd purple heart was originally denied by his C.O. His fellow-vets thought that was the end of it until Kerry launched his Presidential campaign in 2003...only then did they realize he had somehow obtained that 3rd medal, and NO ONE is forthcoming with the details of how he acquired it.
I'm sure he lost interest after he got his "Trophy Kill". With his connections, it wouldn't have been difficult to move on to bigger and better things like the peace movement.
Kerry is just like Clinton in that he's out to satisfy his needs and interests and I believe he is a thrill seeker. Commitment and doing what's right for the good of the country isn't something he comprehends.
But I thought that, in his own words, he participated in "...machine-gunning civilians, burning villages, killing livestock for fun...?"
Oh, I got your point, and it was a good one. I was just adding to it. Slater got the slant on the answer he wanted -- 'that hiring PIs is unusual' -- by reporting the answer from 'experts' in a very specific fashion.
You know what I mean, if the question was 'do campaigns use PIs,' the experts would have said, 'yes, all the time.' But by framing it as 'do campaigns hire PIs,' then he gets the answer he wants. Very Clintonian.
I was there the same time Hanoi Kerry was.
I was there Oct'68-Apr'69 as a GMG 3
I served on the destroyer USS Corry DD-817
which supplied PCF's and PBR's
and gave gunfire support in North AND South Viet Nam.
My ship may have even supplied Hanoi Kerry's boat.
I VOW I will do everything I LEGALLY can
to keep this traitor from being elected.
Hanoi Kerry MUST NOT win on Nov 2 2004
Please distribute this url link far and wide.
Especially to military and vet groups.
Hanoi Kerry must be exposed for the traitor he is.
It will be updated on a regular basis.
It also contains links for voter registration
for the military AND civilians.
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http://tonkin.spymac.net/hanoikerry1.html
There is a backup site
if the 1st url is unavailable.
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http://stophanoikerry.150m.com/
Re: excerpting -- If I had a billion dollars I'd take the media whores to court on it.
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